A resident of Mayngaway, San Andres escaped serious jail time after he settled the twin court cases with his niece whom he allegedly raped six years ago when she was just 10 years old and whom he kissed on the face and lips in 2013.

The Regional Trial Court directed the release of Seth Somido Terdecilla from detention at the San Andres district jail of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) upon his posting a cash bond of P5,000.00 for both cases for his provisional liberty.

Terdecilla had filed a petition for probation soon after RTC Branch 43 Acting Presiding Judge Lelu P. Contreras sentenced him to suffer a straight penalty of six years and to pay the private complainant P20,000.00 pursuant to an agreement between both parties for the expeditious termination of the two cases.

The two cases were filed by the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor before the Court in September of 2013, with then Prosecutor I Donabel Breva-Bobierrecommending that Terdecilla be held without bail for the rape charge.

In the resolution, the prosecutor stated that in the evening of Sept. 11, 2010 while the young victim was sleeping beside her three-year old cousin when she was awakened by the weight of her uncle on top of her and kissing her cheeks, lips and neck. She also felt that her T-shirt was pulled up to her chest while her shorts and panty were pulled down to her knees.

The girl said she tried to push him away but her uncle got hold of her hands and threatened her, “Dai ka magagasud ta dai ka na maagahan!” (Do not shout or else you will not live to see the day). The accused then took off his shorts and brief and raped her, with the victim helplessly crying.

She told the authorities that she had no one to tell about the incident because her father died when she was young and her mother left her to her grandmother. When her lola died, she stayed with her auntie, Seth’s wife who was then working in Manila at the time of the incident.

She said it was already the second year of her stay with the Terdecillas in Manila when Seth went home to Mayngaway together with her and his daughter as they decided to build a house.

The sexual abuse was no longer repeated as her auntie came home from Manila but she claimed that when no one was around, Seth always kissed her on the cheeks and lips. The last time he did the lascivious act was on the evening of Jan. 6, 2013, she said, when he came in to the room where the she and Terdecilla’s two children were sleeping and then kissed her repeatedly on the lips and then slept beside them.

Following the issuance of the warrant of arrest when the accused apparently went into hiding, the cases were archived in April 2014 and then revived only on Oct. 3, 2016 following his arrest. During arraignment, Terdecilla entered a plea of not guilty on both cases.